Poetry in motion: is Ray Allen the best shooter of all time?

[Global Celtic]

It's pretty obvious, IMO. Ray Allen is averaging 16 points, six rebounds and 61.1 percent shooting in the second round of the NBA playoffs, becoming THE closer in a team that has the best player in the planet... and all of that at age 38. Watching Ray Allen play (and understanding the legendary preparation behind it) it's poetry in motion.

PS: how many human beings could have made that (backpedal) shot against San Antonio last year?

[pearljammer10]

Hasn't he been known as the best 3 point shooter of all time for a while now?

[fitzhickey]

As much as I dislike him, can't take anything away from him. Still think he is a better shooter than Curry.

[BballTim]

It's pretty obvious, IMO. Ray Allen is averaging 16 points, six rebounds and 61.1 percent shooting in the second round of the NBA playoffs, becoming THE closer in a team that has the best player in the planet... and all of that at age 38. Watching Ray Allen play (and understanding the legendary preparation behind it) it's poetry in motion.

PS: how many human beings could have made that (backpedal) shot against San Antonio last year?

  Out of all the players who took at least 200 3 pointers this season Ray's 50th in the league in 3fg%. Let's not get carried away.

[GreenFaith1819]

Hmmm....off the top of my head, without number-crunching...in no particular order. Just putting out some names, here:

Larry, Reggie, Ray, Kobe...Pistol Pete?

A few others I'm forgetting?

Ray Allen is definitely among the best...I wouldn't say "The" best. Maybe I'm too partial to the Green, but MAN I've seen games in my youth where Larry was just COOKING, lol......

Larry Bird would make the opponents SAD with his shooting...Reggie, too. Pistol Pete was before my time, but I've heard he could cook, too.

Ray is among the best, but to my memory...Larry was just a demoralizing shooter for his opponents...would talk trash while doing it, too lol.

[Global Celtic]

Hmmm....off the top of my head, without number-crunching...in no particular order. Just putting out some names, here:

Larry, Reggie, Ray, Kobe...Pistol Pete?

A few others I'm forgetting?

Ray Allen is definitely among the best...I wouldn't say "The" best. Maybe I'm too partial to the Green, but MAN I've seen games in my youth where Larry was just COOKING, lol......

Larry Bird would make the opponents SAD with his shooting...Reggie, too. Pistol Pete was before my time, but I've heard he could cook, too.

Ray is among the best, but to my memory...Larry was just a demoralizing shooter for his opponents...would talk trash while doing it, too lol.

The Legend was awesome but I'm taking in consideration what Ray Allen is doing at age 38 and after being consistently good (shooting) for so many seasons. He's been in the league since 1996...

[JBcat]

As far as best shooter of all time consider just 3 point shooting.  Ray is only 17 3 pointers away from having 3000 for his career at 2973.  In second place is Reggie Miller at 2560 (on a side note I was at the game with a friend flying in from Alaska where I saw Ray pass Reggie.)  Nobody else is over 2000.  Players like Durant and Curry will have  to be extremely lucky to catch Ray, but we won't know for roughly another 15 years.

This could be one of those records where we look up 30 years from now, and Ray is still the all time leader. He'll probably play at least another year or 2 to add to his total.

[jambr380]

I agree that you have to take longevity into consideration, but it is also true that the 3-ptr was a brand new thing back when Larry started playing. Today, there are a lot more people taking and making threes. I know you are talking shooting and not just three point shooting, but this is where the conversation is going. My vote would go to Larry and I would not be at all surprised if Curry broke Allen's record if injuries don't derail his career. His ability to dribble full speed and pull-up from anywhere is a bit more impressive than simple spot-up shooters. Reggie and Larry were also masters at this.

[footey]

Hmmm....off the top of my head, without number-crunching...in no particular order. Just putting out some names, here:

Larry, Reggie, Ray, Kobe...Pistol Pete?

A few others I'm forgetting?

Ray Allen is definitely among the best...I wouldn't say "The" best. Maybe I'm too partial to the Green, but MAN I've seen games in my youth where Larry was just COOKING, lol......

Larry Bird would make the opponents SAD with his shooting...Reggie, too. Pistol Pete was before my time, but I've heard he could cook, too.

Ray is among the best, but to my memory...Larry was just a demoralizing shooter for his opponents...would talk trash while doing it, too lol.

Pistol Pete one of my all time favorites.  But he had a pretty low shooting percentage, as I recall.  Partly because he took so my circus shots.

I would rank Ray Allen among the very best in terms of longevity.  Reggie Miller's form a lot uglier, but he's right there with him.  Larry Bird simply did not have a long enough career to be in the discussion.

[Vox_Populi]

Curry will go down as the best. Right now, I'd say it's probably Allen, at least from 3-point range. Overall, I don't know. Probably Bird.

[Snakehead]

Definitely.

Curry has a case for me right now was a ball handler taking a three.  His pull up is ridiculously good.  But if it's catch and shoot still no question Ray Allen.

[mgent]

Somebody said (can't remember who) that the best shooters in world were the ones who could run all over the court (never shooting from the same spot like in practice/warm-ups) and make ~50 shots in a row.

The only players he ever saw capable of doing this were Ray, Larry, Dirk, and Price.

[Global Celtic]

Let me say that Ray Allen, at age 38, is just a-m-a-z-i-n-g.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht9FXYao96A

[BballTim]

As far as best shooter of all time consider just 3 point shooting.  Ray is only 17 3 pointers away from having 3000 for his career at 2973.  In second place is Reggie Miller at 2560 (on a side note I was at the game with a friend flying in from Alaska where I saw Ray pass Reggie.)  Nobody else is over 2000.  Players like Durant and Curry will have  to be extremely lucky to catch Ray, but we won't know for roughly another 15 years.

This could be one of those records where we look up 30 years from now, and Ray is still the all time leader. He'll probably play at least another year or 2 to add to his total.

  If Curry keeps making them at the rate he has the last 2 years he'd pass Ray in half that time. He'd have to be unlucky *not* to pass Ray.

[LarBrd33]

Why do people rarely mention Steve Nash when discussing the best shooters of all time?

Is it because he was more known as a passer?  Nash had a season in 2008 when he shot 50% overall... 47% from three (2.2 threes per night)  and 91% from the line.  He averaged 17 points and 11 assists that season.

Those were all in a single season of 81 games played.  Here's his various peaks. 
Best overall FG %:  .532
Best 3P%:  .470
Best FT%:  .938
Best TS%:  .654

That's unreal.  What's Ray's best?